He set the oars to one side, then knelt next to me. I propped myself up on my knees as he gathered me to him. He touched the back of my neck, his fingers reaching into my hair, before claiming my lips and kissing me deeply. I closed my eyes, returning his passion.

My breathing was fast and uneven as he drew away. He stood up and pulled me up with him. The top buttons of his shirt were open, his hair tousled from the sea breeze and all the dancing we’d done. His appearance reminded me of the night he’d proposed.

Caleb Achilles… My gorgeous sailor husband.

“You didn’t have to do this,” I said, finding my voice for the first time.

He just smiled.

Taking my hand in one hand, he reached the other around my back, gently pressing me against him. We began to sway to the music in our heads.

I shivered when he moved his hand to the strap of my wedding dress. He rolled it slowly down my shoulder before lowering his head to kiss the skin it had been covering. The feel of his lips so close to my neck made my stomach flutter. His mouth caressed me tenderly, unhurriedly, as though we had all the time in the world. Then he reached for my second strap and pulled it aside. Still swaying my body gently, he began kissing my shoulder with as much tenderness and devotion as he had done the first.

My body was beginning to course with heat I didn’t know how to contain. I raised my hands to the opening of his shirt and fumbled with the buttons.

His hands found the zipper running down the back of my dress. I felt the coldness of the metal slide down my skin as he released me from the gown. It slid to the floor, leaving me standing in my underwear.

As I undid the last of his shirt buttons, he pulled the shirt off and dropped it on the floor near my dress. I let my gaze roam over the beauty of Caleb’s physique before locking eyes with him again.

Deftly, he unclasped my bra. Then he got down on his knees and bared me to him completely.

I watched in anticipation as he finished undressing himself. Slowly, we stepped toward each other, meeting again in the center of the boat. The way his bare skin touched and brushed against mine was electrifying. Surrounding me with his strong arms, he pulled me flush against him.

I felt his need.

Caressing my earlobe with his lips, he breathed against my ear:

“May I take you, Rose?”

My throat felt so tight, I could hardly speak. “Yes,” I managed.

“All of you?”

“All of me.”

Kissing the side of my face, he ran his wide palms down the back of my thighs and lowered me to the floor. As I lay beneath him, my head against the pillows, he knelt over me, gazing down at me for several moments before dipping down.

He kissed my lips, then my neck and the base of my throat. His kisses trailed down the center of my chest, over my ribcage, my stomach, and down to my abdomen. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold out when his mouth found my inner thigh. My chest heaving, I bit down hard on my lower lip.

He moved back up my body so that his face was level with mine, his mouth once again closing around my lips. I gripped his hair, pulling him closer.

Then his hips pressed against me.

And he took me.

All of me.

Even as we made love, it felt like a dance. A dance I didn’t need to learn.

His tongue brushed against mine in rhythm to the rest of his body, our breathing forming a symphony as he explored the deepest part of me.

The lapping of the waves, the blowing of the wind, the flickering of the candlelight, even the stars glimmering overhead seemed to join in the beat of our love.

I still didn’t know what lay ahead of us, how we would make what we had last. Whether I would risk turning into a vampire, or Caleb would turn into a human.

But we had time.

Caleb was mine and I was his.

And as our hearts beat against each other, the heat of my body melding with the coolness of his, nothing else in the world mattered.

Chapter 41: Sofia

Derek and I turned in soon after Rose left with her new husband. There were too many gifts to carry back with us, so Corrine offered to transport them to Rose’s bedroom in our penthouse by magic.

Leaving the area, Derek and I didn’t speak much as we headed back home. We walked hand in hand, lost in our own thoughts.

Arriving at the front door, we headed straight for our bedroom. I entered the bathroom and started brushing my teeth. Derek pushed open the door a moment later to join me. I caught his eye in the mirror. I was expecting to see moroseness in his expression—after all, this was the first night Rose was officially Caleb’s. Instead, the corners of his lips were curved up in a smile.

I raised a brow, my mouth filled with toothpaste.

He responded by burying his head against the back of my neck and kissing me.

“I was just thinking of our wedding night,” he said, resurfacing.

Ah. That should be reason enough to smile… Then again, I recalled how much anxiety we’d been in, since Derek had been due to take the cure the very next day and neither of us had had any idea whether or not it would work.

I rinsed out my mouth.

“I said to Rose how much better behaved Caleb has been with her than you were with me.” I gave him a teasing smile.

He placed his hands on my hips, pulling me back against him. “But would you have had it any other way?”

I craned my neck up to kiss him full on the mouth. “You know I wouldn’t.”

We changed into our night clothes and got into bed. Though there really wasn’t much point in changing into clothes with Derek giving me his look. We’d stripped out of them in a matter of seconds.